Chapter 32

"Rise and shine, my children!"

A chorus of, "Unnie!" echoes in the small bedroom as Wheein yanked the curtain open, courtesy of the two girls curling against each other. Tzuyu groaned while Nayeon wailed, both waving their arms in a futile attempt to either close the curtain or swat Wheein away. The keeper laughed out loud, jumping to the bed right above her sisters' bodies instead of moving away.

"Come on, wake up! You guys have a training session, today!" Wheein rolled around on top of two larger figures, enjoying Tzuyu's helpless yelps and Nayeon's annoyed cry.

"Unnie my back is creaking stooooppp..." the deer wiggled away from Wheein's weight only to fall down to the floor because she moved too far. The loud thud followed by the louder wail almost made Wheein concerned if not for Nayeon to stood up with bleary eyes. "Unnie how could yooouuuuu...."

Wheein giggled for a bit, settling herself beside Tzuyu who floats back into the dreamworld while waving her phone. "Got a message from Yongsun-unnie that you have a training session together today. And Jihyo said you should be early or else your mentor will zap you."

Tzuyu whined from behind Wheein. "Right when I thought that I'm at least freed for a day from Seohyun-unnie's training..."

"What did she make you do, Tzu?" Nayeon asked after she propped herself on the bed.

"The usual... flight maneuver, speed, the arts of floating in the air... yesterday was particularly tough because she made me fly between the feet of a stampede," the maknae groaned as she closes her eyes back. "It was a miracle I'm still alive."

"How about you, Nayeon?" Wheein turned her attention to the brown-haired girl who frowned.

"Almost had Mina bite my off yesterday. Fany-unnie and Yul-unnie made us chase each other through the mountains. Or... like... I'm the prey and her as the hunter. Really not cool having your own friend chasing you with their maw open," she said, burying her face to the bedsheet. She only raised her head again when she felt a tap on her head.

"No pain no gain, eh?" the keeper smiled and Nayeon answered with a grin. "You're okay with that, girls?"

Nayeon giggled. "Tsk, this is nothing. We can endure it, right, Tzu? We're Anihumans, after all!"

Tzuyu only raised her thumb up in the air. Wheein chuckled at the two Anihumans, ruffling Nayeon's unruly hair then stepped down from the bed. Nayeon followed her almost instantly while Tzuyu took her sweet time to slither down.

"I made you some jajangmyeon," Tzuyu was really quick to stand on her feet, beaming hopefully. Wheein laughed again and saunters away. "Come on, get ready. You have a whole day to tackle ahead of you."

###

"Good morning, Twice team!"

"Good morning, Joohyun-sshi!"

Joohyun nodded in satisfaction at the immediate response. Her sharp eyes glide through the nine girls standing before her, scanning their figures from head to toe. It's been almost a week since the training started and she's happy enough that the nine younger girls are improving in their stature. She could feel their increased power as well, filling the air with a mix of aura leaking from their skin. Joohyun had allowed them to release their aura for her to be easier to differentiate each from another.

"Park Jihyo!"

The slightly slumping Phoenix jolted at the call, quickly straightened her back and salutes. "Present!"

Joohyun crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes suspicious. "What happened with your knees?"

"I–"

The Sumatran Tigress' eyes are squinting dangerously. "Was it because of Seungwan or Yeri or Joy?"

Came three panicked denials from behind Joohyun. She ignored it as she continues to watch over Jihyo who sported a shy grin, cheeks blushing and she scratched her neck nervously.

"I fell this morning. It's not a big deal, Joohyun-sshi," at Jihyo's confirmation, Joohyun nodded.

"Okay, fine. But if any of these three," she gestured to the three fearful Anihumans behind her, "Hurt you, rest assured I'm going to give them hell."

Momo and Jihyo were tempted to tell Joohyun about their daily electrocution while Seungwan sweats heavily. But they pushed the thought away when Joohyun gestured them to sit down. Following the older Anihuman, they all sat down on the grass covering the whole plain. The Red Velvet team had taken them to a place none of them know where, especially because Seungwan brought them here with teleportation.

"So today we're going to forgo physical training," Joohyun said and all nine Anihumas almost cried in relief.  "Today we're going to train how to control your aura. We're going to train you about the Soul Plane. Any of you ever heard that term?"

Mina and Tzuyu raised their hand. Joohyun her chin. "Mina?"

"Basically it's kind of a sixth sense," Mina started. "We see, feel and touch people through our aura, not physically. Each person has a different type and color according to her usual aura. The Soul Plane is an extremely effective way to reach the member of a team even when everyone is apart for miles because each members of a team are connected in the Soul Plane."

Joohyun nodded. "Correct. Though, must I say, not only team members are connected in the Soul Plane. You can connect to anyone else you want to. It's just that your own team members' auras are the ones shining the brightest."

The RV ruler waited patiently until it seemed that the information sank into her pupils' brain. She then rested her arm on her crossed legs, propping her chin with her palm as she assesses their condition. "Any of you have a question?"

At the collective shake of heads, Joohyun smiled in satisfaction. "Alright, then! Now, let's talk about how we could reach the Soul Plane. One of the easiest ways is by meditation. Now I want you to make a circle close to each other and meditate. Up, up!"

It doesn't take long for the nine Anihumans to carry out Joohyun's order. In the small circle with Joohyun standing in the middle of them, they all closed their eyes and started to meditate. They know how to meditate already, what to do, what to find, for it was one of the basic lessons back in the academy.

"Let yourself go but focus on me. My voice and my words only."

Once a sense of tranquility seeped into their mind, nothing else registered aside from Joohyun's calm voice. Instead of heightening their senses like the usual meditation, this time they blocked all other inputs from their surroundings, opting to fix their attention to Joohyun.

"Let your power out. Feel as it manifests around you. Feel as your aura becomes the extension of you, your arms, your feet, your everything."

While the older Anihuman paced around, watching her pupils with her interest peaked. Joohyun knew just with a single glance which of these girls would slide easier into the Soul Plane. She let out her own burgundy aura, guiding it to tug at the girls' colorful auras to tell them about her presence, her power.

"You feel that?" she tried again, noticing the twitch in the white aura that responded to her tug. "If you can feel that, try to hold onto mine."

Surprisingly, Nayeon was the first to be able to grip her with her own aura. Joohyun sent an appreciative warmth and Nayeon was so giddy she almost snapped out of her meditation.

"Focus, don't let this distract you."

But the one distracted was her when Seungwan slides beside her, hands tucked into her pockets with her chocolate orbs staring sharply at one of the girls.

"Keep an eye on her," she whispered, low enough so no one hears, tilting her chin to gesture at the girl struggling to reach Joohyun's aura. It was Sana, who is now furrowing her brows in both concentration and irritation when her aura seemed to have its own mind, light pink dancing around swishing at Tzuyu's calm magenta. "I don't have a good feeling when her aura jumps out on its own like that."

"I know," Joohyun whispered back as she pushed Seungwan away. "We'll take care of her later. You stay back, someone's interested in your power."

Seungwan took a sidestep just before a tendril of crimson flicked her natural golden aura. She scoffed when Joohyun pushed her again, smiling. "Come on, go. You're too strong you're going to take their attention away from me."

The Kirin saluted once before returning to her other members, who were occupied in their own activity of playing card games. Joohyun sighed when Seungwan settled on Seulgi, practically draping her petite body across the bear's lap and disturbed their game, earning herself a hard smack on the head from Yeri.

Just then, Joohyun felt one last tug on her aura by Sana's and she breathes out in relief. "Okay, that's good. Open your eyes."

"Joohyun-sshiii...." Sana immediately wailed the moment their concentration broke, no doubt despairing her stubborn aura. "Why can't I control it? I thought it would be the same with before I grew?"

"Of course not," Joohyun smiled, shaking her head. "You power had increased so of course, it would be more difficult in restraining it. It's fine, we'll have more chance to help you learn about that after this. One thing for sure, you guys are now able to enter the Soul Plane and you're able to control your aura to interact with mine."

The nine girls nodded, joyful because they were able to pass the first step. Joohyun then sat down in the middle of their circle while closing her own eyes. "Now, I want you to go back to your meditation. But keep your power inside, don't let your aura leak. This time, we're going to try to visualize other's aura instead of interacting with them. The key in this is your bond. The stronger your bond, you'll see easier. Think about who you want to see, concentrate on their feature, the color of their aura, and you'll be able to envision them. Come, try."

Jihyo took a deep breath before she closes her eyes. Earlier, it's been easier for her to reach out to Joohyun because her animal form is basically one big blob of aura anyway. But now, she's a bit struggling, mostly because of her own dominant red covering her vision and additionally because of the speck of ice blue not far from her.

Mina?

The Phoenix asked in her mind, but the little aura flickered and vanished.

It confuses her a bit, though she decided to ignore the apparition. At least now she has someone to focus to. She concentrated on the white-pelted wolf, repeating her name like a prayer in her mind, picturing her face, her hair, her moles especially, while trying to conjure the exact color of Mina's aura.

It took her a few minutes and she swears that her power was drained, but she can finally visualize Mina's aura. The younger girl's sapphire blue slowly manifests beside her amongst the endless dark. Jihyo grinned as she finally succeeded, slowly decreasing her focus to be able to return to the real world.

She met Joohyun's proud smile when she opened her eyes and she grinned wider.

"You're done?"

"Mhm," Jihyo nodded, albeit a bit exhausted. "It was tricky but somehow I manage."

"Okay," the Sumatran Tigress exhaled. "Some of your friends are still trying to grasp it. You can rest or you can practice again. If you want to practice, try to focus on more people."

"I think I'll practice some more."

Joohyun nodded in acknowledgment and she relaxes, leaving Jihyo to her own devices. The Phoenix looked around to see that Jeongyeon was the only one not meditating. The bear was lying on the grass, chest heaving, seemingly tired with this (not-so) simple task. She saw Chaeyoung in perfect tranquil, one thing she hadn't seen much because of how impatient that girl usually was. Maybe Joohyun had managed to knock some sense to the Sabertooth tigress.

Taking a deep breath, Jihyo closed her eyes again. She felt her power returning after being used for quite a hefty amount. This time, she repeated Mina's and Dahyun's name because both are her keeper-mate so they must have grown a bit closer in the past few months. Living together also made her easier to recall their appearances.

Mina's blue immediately appeared at the corner of her eyes, shaped exactly like the she-wolf's sitting position. Jihyo willed Mina's projection to stay where it was to try to find Dahyun's. Just as she finally see the orange-ish glow, there was another spark appeared quite far from her position. It was the ice blue aura from before, just bigger, brighter and floats around as if it was a scepter.

Hello?

Jihyo called softly and the aura seemed to notice her as it bounced over to her.

Who are you?

The blue blob stopped, then rolled around right in front of her red semblance, acting as if it was a little puppy looking for attention.

Hello?

Being so close to the blue little thing, Jihyo spotted that the center of the thing, whatever that is, glowed silver with a mix of golden around it.

What are you?

Jihyo knelt down, reaching to touch the bouncy thing. She almost made contact with it when Joohyun's high-pitched scream shattered the realm.

"SON SEUNGWAN!"

It was not only Jihyo who snapped out of her meditation but her eight friends as well. Even the other four RV rulers were all surprised. Their attention immediately drawn to the sleepy Kirin, who jumped in shock at Joohyun's shriek, almost knocking over Joy who was calmly combing her hair with her fingers.

"Wha– wha–?"

"FIVE KILOMETERS RUN NOW!"

Seungwan blinked, clearly too confused and too sleepy for her mind to work perfectly. "Wh– why–?"

"I SAID NOW!"

"But I didn't–"

"NOW,  SEUNGWAN!"

Afraid, tired, lost and beyond confused, the Kirin leapt to her feet and started moving her legs. The other twelve are watching the Kirin slowly fading away from their sight with the same amount of confusion. After she's sure that Seungwan was already far, Joohyun returned to her pupils, face neutral as if she hadn't just pressured her member to exercise with no known motive.

"You may continue," Joohyun said calmly when the nine girls are looking at her with their jaw agape.

The girls cast a glance to each other. They wanted to ask, sure, but they were all to cowardice to confront the leader head-on. So they closed their eyes again in an effort to return back to their deep meditation.

As Jihyo concentrates again, Mina's aura showed up pretty quickly, probably because she had focused on her friend twice so she can visualize her faster. Dahyun's orange followed not long after, shining orange that seemed to brighten the vast darkness of the Soul Plane.

And Jihyo can't help but notice the missing blue spark in her vision.

###

"There, there..."

Hands gripping Hyoyeon's forearm tightly, Taeyeon willed her weakened legs to move, taking each tiny steps with great effort. On her other side was Tiffany, arms stretched open to catch her in case she falls. She smiled at the younger girls when she succeeded to take another step.

Sunny had declared that she's strong enough to part ways with her wheelchair. It's been almost a week, far too long for her liking, but she doubts she will be able to even stand if she stubbornly asked the Red Panda to give her permission to leave her wheelchair a few days earlier.

At the twentieth step or so, she faltered, and Tiffany was quick to wrap her arms around her body.

"Okay, we rest for now," the black-haired woman declared. Taeyeon could hear the sound of her wheelchair nearing her as Yoona pushed the aid to her.

"Thanks, guys," Taeyeon mumbled after Hyoyeon guided her to sit down. "I'm sorry... I'm not recovering fast enough."

There was a soft slap on her shoulder blade courtesy of Yuri. "It's fine. We'd rather have you fully healthy for the third examination rather than exerting yourself now and unable to participate in our last exam."

"Of course," the Dragoness smiled, reclining back on the backrest. "How are the girls?"

"Seohyun is still watching over them but it seems like no one realizes that she floats around," Sooyoung snickered. "As far as she told us, nothing out of ordinary happened. She'll surely send a signal if we are needed."

"Right. Thanks, Soo."

The Allosaurus shrugged. "Anytime. You look concerned, though. Anything on your mind?"

Taeyeon smiled and shakes her head. "Just thinking that maybe I should take Momo to my private training spot once I'm back to my prime. She seemed to struggle a lot following Seungwan's trajectory style. She's more of a physical fighter than an aura manipulator, after all."

"You sure?" Tiffany sent a skeptical look to her leader. "I mean... leaving Seungwan alone without supervision is kinda..."

"I know that," sighing, Taeyeon closed her eyes. "But she was nowhere these past few days. I felt her presence back on the first day but she's away since then. Gotta believe in Wan's willpower one time or another. Maybe... maybe, this is the right time to put my faith in that kid."

She then opened her eyes, staring at Tiffany intently. "Worry not, Ppany-ah. If she shows any symptoms until I fully recover, I won't risk anything. I promise."

"Alright," Tiffany sighed as she runs her palm over Taeyeon's pale knuckles. "Just... tell us if you need assistance, okay?"

"I will," Taeyeon grasped the Snow Leopard's hand, tight. She beamed when Tiffany finally answered her smile and she looked down, wiggling her feet to test their strength. "Now... because all of us want me to recover quickly, let us continue the therapy. I'm aching to be able to walk on my own again, y'know."

To be continued...